“Come sit,” he ordered.
I was tempted to run, not wanting them to see me cry, but I forced the tears back and sat.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked.
“Riot is in the yard. He gets up early usually and often works until the sun goes down,” Bonnie answered.
“Cherry and Soda are upstairs…” Boone’s sentence drifted off as we looked up and heard the loud sounds of them making… I wasn’t sure it was love, but they were sure enjoying it.
“I was telling Boone and Bonnie about the bunker. What happened there and what I’m trying to do. They offered to help me,” Callahan announced.
I shook my head. “What does that mean? What are you trying to do?”
“I want to take down the people who built those bunkers.” He slammed his fist on the table, causing the others to pick up their drinks.
“It’s been hundreds of years, won’t they all be dead?” I crossed my arms and leaned back. This wasn’t the Callahan I knew. Or thought I knew. After yesterday’s revelations, I wasn’t sure I knew this man at all.
“The originals, yes. But not the ones still keeping them running. Boone says he’s seen their headquarters. We could get there in seven days.”
“Seven days?” I blinked, trying to take in everything. “When do we leave?”
The trio looked at me.
“What?”
“Eleanor, I can’t risk your life by taking you.” Callahan reached for my hand under the table but I flinched away. I shoved my seat back so fast the chair fell.
“You’re going without me?”
“Yes, but it’s only for?—”
“You forced me to leave the bunker, killed everyone, and are now abandoning me in less than 48 hours.” I shook my head in disbelief.
What was happening?
“Was this your plan this whole time?”
He stood, and gave Boone and Bonnie a look. They exited the kitchen fast, leaving us. “What do you mean?”
“You spent ten years being my bully, and then suddenly, after murdering my first Daddy, you become my best friend. You seduced me, being nice to me, and saying things I wanted to hear so that I’d give— give—” I choked back a sob. I felt sick. “I gave you everything. My heart, my body, my comfort. And for what? For you to abuse me every chance you get and then abandon me completely?”
“That’s not what this is. Eleanor, I only treated you like that because I was in love with you.” Callahan’s eyes were shiny and his expression showed pain. “Don’t think it was anything else. I didn’t know how to express my feelings in a place where it was bad to have them. I couldn’t compete with the other men in your life and I was angry.”
“That’s why you killed them?” I shot back.
“No. I killed them to save you. To protect you. I told you that. And now, I have to do this to make sure you stay this way. We need to take them down at the core, once and for all. Bunker 237, our bunker, was one of many they are doing horrible things to. I can’t sit back, knowing what I know, and not do anything.”
He sighed and bent down, picking up my chair. “Eleanor, I know you’re angry about last night. I don’t know what came over me and we should talk about that before I leave, but that’s a whole other conversation and I need you to focus.”
My mouth fell open.
I. Needed. To. Focus?
“I hate you.” I spun around. Instantly, his large arms wrapped around my middle. I kicked as he forced me to turn back around. “Yes, I am angry about last night! You told me that you wanted to sleep with someone else and I had to just be okay with it. How am I supposed to feel?”
Guilt covered his face. “I’m sorry, I was caught up, and I shouldn’t have said the things I said. Please, Eleanor, can we put a pin in this? Why don’t we take a break, give us both time to think, and when I return in three weeks?—”
“Three weeks! You said seven days.” I couldn’t believe this man.
